Work vehicles, such as tractors and other agricultural vehicles, typically include a hood that at least partially encases or covers an engine compartment defined at the front or rear end of the work vehicle. Various under-hood components, such as the engine, and one or more components of the air intake, air cleaning, fuel supply, electrical, cooling, and/or exhaust systems of the work vehicle, are typically housed within the engine compartment. To access such components, the vehicle's hood is configured to be pivoted upward to an opened position. For instance, the hood may be pivoted upward about its aft end (i.e., the end closest to the cab) such that the front end of the hood (i.e., the end positioned at the front of the vehicle) is moved away from the engine compartment. Once access to the engine compartment is no longer desired, the hood may then be pivoted downwardly to its closed position.
Due to the configuration of conventional work vehicles, vehicle hoods are often quite long and are typically pivotally coupled to the vehicle at a single location, such as at the aft end of the hood. As a result, the front end of the hood may experience a significant amount of cross-wise or side-to-side movement as the hood is being moved from its opened position to its closed position, thereby resulting in the front end of the hood becoming offset from the center of the engine compartment or otherwise becoming misaligned in the cross-wise or side-to-side direction of the work vehicle. Such misalignment can result in the locking mechanism for the hood not engaging the associated latch, thereby preventing the hood from being properly closed. Moreover, the misalignment of the hood can also result in the hood inadvertently contacting and subsequently damaging one or more of the under-hood components of the work vehicle.
Accordingly, a system for guiding a vehicle hood during closure that addresses one or more of the issues identified above would be welcomed in the technology.